New Delhi (ILNS): The urgent listing and hearing of Arnab Goswami’s bail plea in the Supreme Court has raised the hackles of some. Here is a neutral look at the situations around such feelings.
First, it was Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave’s letter to the Secretary General, Supreme Court of India over the extraordinary Urgent Listing of the Special Leave Petition filed on behalf of Arnab Goswami.
Dave, who is also the president of the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), raised issues over the selective listing of matters for the last eight months amid the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. He wrote:
“While thousands of Citizens remain in jails, languishing for long periods while their matters filed before the Hon’ble Supreme Court are not getting listed for weeks and months, it is, to say the least, deeply disturbing as to how and why every time Mr. Goswami approaches the Supreme Court, his matter gets listed instantly.”
The question that the letter raises before the Secretary General is: Is there any special order or direction from the Chief Justice of India and the Master of the Roster over the matter? It has been further made clear in the letter that such an extraordinary listing of matters cannot take place without the direction of the Chief Justice.
The letter has come after Arnab Goswami moved to the Supreme Court challenging the Bombay High Court Order rejecting Arnab’s interim bail application in a 2018 abetment to suicide case.
Dave stated:
“You are fully aware, and it is on record, that time and again I have received requests from various Advocates on Record to the effect that the matters filed by them are not getting listed for weeks and months though very urgent and involving serious issues requiring Hon’ble Court’s urgent intervention including Bail matters.”
Having said that, one has also to take into account certain other incidents of the recent past. The case of Advocate Prashant Bhushan seeking review of the Supreme Court order in the Contempt matter had been listed early under urgent hearing. In another plea filed by Journalist Vinod Dua, seeking protection from arrest, had also been listed early and both the matters were argued by Senior Advocate Dushyant Dave.
After Dave’s letter to Secretary-General, Samyabrata Ray Goswami, Arnab’s wife and also Senior Executive Editor of Republic TV, also wrote to the Secretary-General of the Supreme Court of India calling the letter of Dave a “Malicious attempt… to cause prejudice to the hearing of my husband Arnab Ranjan Goswami’s petition in the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India by his selective outrage.”
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Goswami wrote: “I am shocked and horrified at the extent to which certain vested interests are at work. She has further listed the matters in which Dave himself was appearing and were listed on an urgent basis even before the pandemic.”
He means to say only him and a selected section of Advacates have that privilege, they cannot accept or tolerate, other’s using such privilege
What is wrong if Arnab’s case was listed urgently? The speed with which the Mumbai Police arrested him from his residence by reopening a closed case with a large posse of policemen justifies the urgency for the hearing shown by the Supreme Court.The grant of bail by Supreme Court even though it was rejected by the High Court has vindicated the action of the Supreme Court.Such technicalities should not be raised by senior members of the Bar. Rather ,they should work towards judicial reforms for fast tracking cases in cases where thousands of citizens are remaining in jails for long periods. The matter involved here was one that involved protecting individual’s freedom and liberty besides freedom of the media.